Surface Headphones 2 spotted on FCC and Bluetooth SIG

Microsoft Surface Headphones was a pleasant surprise with a
solid sound and noise cancellation, but the headset lacked
support for AptX and other audio technologies for
higher-quality sound.

Microsoft is planning to update Surface Headphones with
improved Bluetooth technology and a few new features, according
to multiple certifications published earlier this week.

With the Surface Headphones 2 and Surface Earbuds, Microsoft is
looking to expand its reach into the audio space with the same
design elements as the computing brethren.

According to our findings, Surface Headphones were recently
submitted to
the FCC for the second time and the filing points to
updated Bluetooth transceiver.

Surface Headphones 2 also appeared on Bluetooth
SIG certification. According to the SIG certification,
Microsoft’s next-gen audio headset will feature dial buttons to
adjust the levels of noise and it will offer up to 20 hours of
wireless listening per battery.

The original Surface Headphones don’t have aptX or AAC as they
support Bluetooth 4.2 rather than the latest version 5.
However, the next-gen headphones will ship with Bluetooth 5.0
and ‘adopted aptX codec’.

The aptX Bluetooth technology facilitates stable wireless
streaming. Qualcomm says its AptX compresses and then
decompresses audio when it is transmitted over Bluetooth
connection without damaging the quality.

While aptX is excellent for Android and Windows devices, it
isn’t supported by Apple’s iOS devices.

“Stereo Headset with BT Wireless Technology, that streams music
wirelessly from a BT Stereo enabled music players and mobile
phones,” Microsoft noted in the SIG filing.

As per the filing, the dial buttons support three settings and
you can tap or hold the dial to launch the voice assistant.

It does appear that Microsoft will finally offer advanced
wireless protocols and the range of its connection are likely
to be good. Like its predecessor, Surface Headphones 2 promises
adjustable noise cancellation, innovative dial and touch
controls, premium design, and ability to support multiple
Bluetooth devices.